what does invisibilization of women's labour mean?
Answers
Tags
feminism, invisible labour, men, women, work
In my piece on the Men’s Rights Movement I mentioned that a sexist society demands that women agonise and justify themselves over wanting to “have it all” (i.e. a career and a family), but never asks men to make that choice. Or even to consider that wanting children and a job at the same time, and assuming that one’s family and work life will be arranged to meet that desire, might be a privilege. In this piece I’d like to think a bit more about the way a lot of activities are regarded as “women’s work” by our society, and then designated as “not proper work” because of that assumption. Even in a country which has certain legal safeguards on women’s rights to equal pay and freedom from exploitation (however limited and sloppily enforced), men’s lives are often underpinned by a network of “invisible labour” undertaken by women. This frees up their time for the kind of activity which society recognizes as more “worthwhile”, or which they find more enjoyable.
Childcare is an obvious example, and one which I touched on in that previous article. Looking after children is associated with stereotypes about women: that they are more nurturing, more suited to life at home, have a natural bond with all children and are more emotional (where men are rational.) These ideas about women’s supposed “essential nature” provide justification for excluding them from a career when they have children (since they would be “unnatural” to prefer writing legal opinions to playing with their toddlers at home), or at least for not arranging a work culture which is flexible enough to accommodate breastfeeding, picking up children from school or the other demands of parenthood.
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Answer:
Explanation:
Women's work orwoman's work is work believed to be exclusively the domain ofwomen and associates particular tasks with thefemale gender. It is particularly used with regard to work that a mother or wife will perform within a family and household.